With ‘Variedades: Little Central America, 1984,’ Six Artists Reclaim a Sanctuary Space and Their History

Whether you’re opening up a newspaper, clicking the homepage of your preferred online news source, or turning up the volume on your favorite news podcast--you can’t go long without seeing a new headline about immigration and refugee issues in our country.

Headlines detailing brutal raids, atrocities occurring in ICE custody, and the separation of families emerge every day. Constantly berated by discouraging headlines many refugees, immigrants, and their allies are left feeling hopeless for a future that fosters inclusivity.

However, a few Angeleno artists are working against that creeping dismay through performance art.

VARIEDADES: Little Central America, 1984 centers around the experiences of those displaced by the civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador. Through an oral history, VARIEDADES: Little Central America, 1984 works to foster hope in future generations and new waves of refugees from Central America.

The performance was at the Echo Park United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, once a safe haven created during the Sanctuary Movement to protect refugees from immigration authorities during the Reagan administration.

The sanctuary was back-lit with fuschia lights. A video of a border river projected on the inside of the church’s dome as the tranquil sound of water rushing furiously bounced from wall to wall. An interview about ICE immigration issues played on repeat in the background as people settled into their seats.

By reinhabiting the church sanctuary and filling it with poetry, music, dance and imagery, the artists created a representation of Latin American and American history through art. The mix of ambient noise, video projection, and varied voices effectively submerged the audience into the conversation. Surrounded by the sounds and voices of the orators, the audience is forced to come face to face with a dark history of oppression many casually overlook. 

The similarities between the racial tensions that plague the history of Little Central America and it’s streets today are not lost on the artists who wrote and performed the piece. The sirens and helicopters heard through the walls mirrored those heard during the riots that surrounded the safe haven during the 90’s: serving as a reminder that history repeats itself.

Variedades explores a variety of complex topics like sexuality, identity, and race by focusing on themes that continue to be at the crux of a universal path to self-understanding and societal acceptance. The performance underscores the systematic preservation of many issues that Central American immigrants faced in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

The mix of subtle comedy and parody juxtaposes the painful origin stories of the orators and proved to be an effective tool in conveying an experience foreign to some and all too familiar to others.

“What do YOU hope for?” Leticia Hernández-Linarez, Salvadorian-American artist, author and educator, asked the audience in the closing moments of the show. Word vomit rose from the audience as each individual turned to the strangers who surround them and proclaimed what they’re hopeful for.

“I believe we have finally awakened,” Rubén Martinez, descendant of immigrants from El Salvador and Mexico and writer, performer, and teacher, shouted above the crowd.

The conversation in the audience came to a sharp halt as Hernández-Linarez proclaimed, “we have?!” as a choir of cackling rose from the corners of the room. It was clear the the laughter made the audience uncomfortable as some awkwardly squirmed in their seats. Left in a state of confusion and unease, the audience was prepared to walk out of the sanctuary and reinterpret the history, the community, and the future before them.